


I've Got The World On A String

by ej3467273



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Broken Friendships, Civil War, F/M, Lots of Cursing, Romance, The Hell is wrong with me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-11-30 16:22:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11467242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ej3467273/pseuds/ej3467273
Summary: Peter Parker has to juggle a life of high school student and Spider-Man, along with his feelings for Michelle. There's also some slight problems, like a group of villains planning to take him out , Michelle knowing that he's Spider-Man, Mr. Stark preparing to have a baby, and Captain America becoming his gym teacher.At least he has Ned as his 'guy in the chair.' Unless Ned blabs his secrets out to the rest of the world, with the way he was getting close with Betty Brant.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**The Spider**

Peter knows he’s in trouble when he arrives five minutes late to the decathlon meeting. Michelle, while acting like a lazy captain, was actually pretty strict on people being at the meeting when they were supposed to. But he had to check on his web fluid and before he knew it, he was running late. He sauntered into the library, hoping to God that she didn’t notice him coming in late. 

God didn’t answer back that hope.

“Look who has decided to show up!” Michelle said with her characteristic dry wit. “We can finally get this meeting started.”

“Sorry, sorry!” Peter apologized as he took a seat near Ned who was busy scrolling through Facebook. The high school senior took a glance at his best friend’s screen and saw that he was on Betty Brant’s page. “Dude, staring at her page isn’t going to magically her appear in front of your eyes.”

Ned rolled his eyes.

“Like staring at MJ is going to make her fall for you?” Ned retorted, which made Peter visibly gulp. He quickly took out his water bottle and took a gulp, hoping that the cool  water would help get the blush off his face. “I’m just messing with you dude, no need to...holy crap.”

The two turned to see Michelle standing over them, her brown eyes peering deep into Peter’s own.  _ Was it getting hot in here or something?  _ He tugged at his collar when she got really close to him, staring down at him.

“I know you guys are like Lou and Costello, but I need you to pay attention instead of trying to figure out who’s on first,” she almost barked out. “Got it?”

“Aye, aye sir!” Ned said hurriedly, which earned an eyebrow raised at him. He shot off a snappy salute and clicked off his phone.

“Ah yeah, we’ll get right back to work. Sorry, uh, captain,” Peter said rather lamely. Michelle smirked briefly before returning to her seat. He let his brain focus.  _ Decathlon. Decathlon. Focus.  _ He had been taking a ‘break’ from the Stark internship (in reality, he was still slinging around late at night, worrying his aunt on the lookout for baddies), and was pursuing a freelance photography internship at the  _ Daily Bugle.  _ Ned was more interested in computer science, being Peter’s ‘man in the chair.’ They were still in the process of applying for colleges.

_ Gotta get these photos to Jameson and hopefully he won’t throw me out of his office like last time,  _ Peter mused, his hand itching to get back to his camera. He had gotten some good shots of ‘Spider-Man’ during his encounter against the ‘Shocker’ for the third time in two years.  _ Really gotta put that guy in jail,  _ but Schultz had escaped again.  _ Really, really gotta put that guy in jail. _

“Peter, when were the atomic bombs dropped on Japan?” Michelle asked and he snapped out of his thoughts.

“August 9th and August 15th,” he said with ease, remembering Michelle’s rather passionate presentation about the evilness of the bombings (and he also was in awe of the half-hour debate between Michelle and Cindy Moon. Cindy was Chinese-American and was rather... _ supportive  _ of the atomic bombings. Peter didn’t care, but holy crap, he felt like getting hit by Shocker’s gauntlet was better than listening to that.)

“Good,” Michelle said before throwing a stink eye at Cindy, who returned it back. “Ned…”

And so it went on, another day in the life of Peter Parker. He glanced at the clock. Decathlon meetings were only an hour long, but this one felt much longer. He wanted to get out there and start helping out the people of Queens again. But until that clock struck four, he was a prisoner of Michelle Jones.

“Alright, meeting’s over. Next meeting is this Thursday, same time. Show up or don’t show up, doesn’t make a difference to me. But be on time if you’re gonna be here,” Michelle said, casting a glance at Peter. In his mind, Peter was being dragged to the gallows, where Michelle was the judge, jury, and executioner. A very pretty executioner, but still one who was going to hang him.

“Peter, let’s  _ go,”  _ Ned nudged him and Peter realized he had been staring a little too much at Michelle as she walked out of the library. “You’re lucky she didn’t look back. She’s done worse to people for less.”

“Don’t I know,” he said a little dreamily. A little  _ too  _ dreamily “Don’t I know.”

**_The Broken Man_ **

 

Adrian Toomes. The Vulture. The man who had played the federal government and Tony Stark for five years, moving Chitauri technology under their noses and selling it to support his family.   _ This would have never happened if Stark didn’t create that ‘Department of Damage Control and ran me out of a job.  _ The big guy smacking around the little guy.

_ They never cared for us,  _ he thought angrily.  _ Had a daughter and a wife to feed, house, and care for. To make sure my little girl had the best I could possibly provide, with all my love and affection. And where did that lead me?  _ A path of crime. A path of no return.

He had been one of New York’s most prominent arms dealers, the man who could sell you arms no other could give you. Money had been pouring in, allowing him to make his family comfortable and saving for Liz to go to college. Now his family didn’t want anything to do with him. His wife had moved across the country and taken up her maiden name. His daughter had done the same.

_ Don’t want the sting of my last name,  _ he thought bitterly. But in his heart, he knew that it was the right thing to do. Liz was now a sophomore at Empire State University, one of the best universities in New York and on the East Coast. It wasn’t no Ivy League, but it was the best.

He knew he was an old man. He felt it in his bones, how it hurt to get up. He was nearing sixty, a man who had loved late in his life. He had met Doris at, ironically, a pet store when she was twenty-three and fresh out of college, and he was a thirty-eight-year-old salvage company worker heading off a bad breakup.

Love. He had fallen in love with her almost immediately. A year later, Liz had been born, his little gumdrop, the greatest gift the universe had ever given him. He had started his salvage company after his boss died and though their lives always teetered, they were happy.

And then... _ Tony Stark.  _ The smug bastard who had wrecked New York in the first place, bringing these tough alien invaders who had torn up half of New York. And then he had the cajones to put him out of business and tear his life apart?

“Hey,  _ Vulture,”  _ one of the inmates said to him, though with a hint of respect and fear, “Mac’s here.”

Mac Gargan. Who had been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for homicides, assault, manslaughter...   _ Meanwhile, I got twenty-five years for arms dealing and theft of federal property.  _ He would die in prison, a lonely man. Torn from his family.

He gets off from the seat he was in and was face to face with Mac. The grinning madman looked at him with gleeful eyes.

“Toomes,” he began. “Look’s like I’m getting out of here. Gonna meet with some friends on the outside. Your pal, the  _ Shocker.  _ Idiot’s been fighting our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man on his own for the past couple years. Finally met up with some of my boys.”

“Schultz was always persistent,” Toomes murmured, more to himself. “Anything else you want to say?”

“Don’t look at me like that old man,” Mac said, with a hint of madness in his voice. “Look  _ loco,  _ I’m going to level with you, man to man,  _ ok?  _ The Spider fucker’s been ‘cleaning up’ Queens and my associates don’t like that. And we finally got a plan.”

“And what the hell is that plan?” he asked.

“Oh  _ ese,  _ you’ll know. You’ll fucking know. But first...we’ll we gotta get fucking outta here don’t we?” Mac said with a maniacal grin. “I’m in here for life and you’re twenty-five years...by the time you get out, you’ll need a goddamn cane for your old ass.”

Adrian didn’t even rise to the bait. He was an old man. A beaten man. A broken man.  _ A lonely man. _

“So why you talking to me?” he asked sharply. “Why you looking at me to get us out of here?”

“I’m not. I’m including you in  _ this plan  _ because you’re smart,” Mac said generously. “Because your man Schultz is persistent but an idiot. Your tinkerer knows how to play with technology, but he doesn’t know how to commit crimes. The guys I know...they know how to plan, but they need to know how to defeat Spider-Man. You’re the only one who’s ever faced him. That’s why I’m looking to bust us out of here.”

And with that Mac got up. And in his place?

A scorpion card. Adrian, for the first time, was rejuvenated. He knew who Spider-Man was.  _ Peter Parker.  _ He wouldn’t kill him. Oh no, he wouldn’t.

He was going to make sure Peter never bothered him again.  _ He got involved in things he should never have been a part of. Ruined me.  _ He was going to take his vengeance. But how?


	2. Discovery Already?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michelle knows that Peter is up to no good. Was she right that in her suspicion that he was a certain web-slinging hero?

**The Independent Academic**

Michelle was hiding behind a wall.

Now normally, she wouldn’t. After all, she was a strong and independent woman who didn’t fear anything ( _except for rats, cause, quite frankly, fuck rats)_ and she would confront something head on and grab it by the horns.

Except when she was trying to confront a guy who could climb walls and stop buses with his bare hands. Female empowerment aside, she knew she was outmatched here. So she needed to be quiet and hope that he wouldn’t spot her.

She spotted her quarry, a Peter Parker who was rushing out of school like he did every single day. She hadn’t noticed at first, but she started picking up some weird things happening, not just to mention him bailing out on a lot of things for the Stark internship.

Like when Flash had thrown a basketball at Peter’s head and the guy, the bumbling idiot had caught it with surprising ease. Now that shouldn’t have tipped off any alarm bells, Peter had always been athletic, despite his poor attempts to hide it. She had once been dozing off when he had taken off his shirt and she could see the six pack he had.

But they had been attending a football game together (her, Ned Leeds, Betty Brant, and Peter), because Mr. Harrington wanted ‘school spirit’ or some bullshit like that. Apparently the punter didn’t know which direction to kick and the ball went spiraling into the stands, straight for Peter’s head. He had caught it with a single hand and thrown it back with a huge amount of force.

Or the time when she had slipped in the cafeteria reading Henry Kissinger’s _Diplomacy_ for World History last year and he caught it along with the book. He had given her back her book and walked away in a hurry, as if she was a disease or something. She had been stunned by the pure... _strength,_ Peter’s grip had been...as strong as steel.

No, she wasn’t obsessed, she was just observant, okay?

She followed behind, wrapping her scarf around her face because it was a cold New York fall day. Besides keeping her warm, it also hid her appearance from Parker. He was quickening his pace, dashing around other students and parents intermingling. She was close, though keeping her distance. It was easy to keep an eye on him, with his trademark blue beany on his head.

 _Just like a journalist, just like a journalist, just like a journalist,_ she said to herself, more to convince her mind that she was acting like a journalist instead of creepily stalking one of her friends. He darted onto a busy street, carefully weaving through people and hot dog stands. He was heading straight towards the train station, she noted with disapproval. That’s what she took everyday in order to head back to her Queen’s apartment where she lived with her dad and mom, and somewhere she tried to stay out of.

As she trailed a little farther and farther behind, Peter continued to run at an almost breakneck speed, as if he was running a race. Her disappointment was beginning to increase as he was only a block away from the train station and she could barely see him now. _Maybe he’s not...well he’s not the Spider-Man._ Months of observation. Months of trying to figure out who in God’s name was slinging up criminals with webs.

He crossed the street and walked slower, his destination the train station. She didn’t notice that she was hiding in an alley, her head being the only thing visible when a rough hand grabbed her. She turned, her leg already in the motion of kicking when it was stopped cold.

“You’re going to hand me over everything you got little girl,” a rough voice said in her ear. “Otherwise I’m gonna gut you and leave you to die.”

Michelle cursed. _Fuck my luck,_ she thought as a sharp object poked her in the ribs. _Really shitty luck._ She noticed that were four men surrounding her, all of them dressed in the colors of Queen’s most notorious gang.

_The Kingpin._

 

**THE GUARDIAN OF NEW YORK (MOSTLY QUEENS THOUGH)**

Peter sensed something was off. Somebody had been following him, so he decided to head straight for the train station instead of darting into an alley as usual and changing into his Spider-Man suit. He had decided to start wearing the suit underneath his clothes as fall was coming along, bringing in some much needed warmth. His mask was right in his beany, just in case he needed to swing into action.

That’s when his Spider-Sense went off. It wasn’t a new thing, it had first emerged when he got the powers two years ago (came in handy when the Winter Soldier had thrown an advertisement at his head) but it was sharpening as he grew. _Weird._ It was going off like crazy and it was pointing towards his south. He quickly looked around and darted under the stairs and when nobody was looking, put on his mask on and shed his clothes. With two years of practice, he got out of his clothes in five seconds flat, slinging that and his backpack (first one in a year that hadn’t been stolen) right underneath the stairs with a promise to retrieve them before the webbing wore off. He had managed to increase the durability to five hours from two, but he still wanted to make sure that his stuff wasn’t stolen again.

He immediately webbed a nearby building, prompting cries of “Spider-Man” from people. He raced up the six-story building, his legs sticking to the brick easily and he jumped up to the roof. Following his Spider-sense, he jumped down into an alley that was just a block away from the train station. He looked down.

There she was, surrounded by four guys in black and white, members of the Kingpin’s gang. _What were they doing robbing high school girls in broad daylight?_ Sure, this wasn’t the first time he had confronted the Kingpin’s gang before, having stopped them at the bank two years ago and an attempted kidnapping just a couple weeks ago, but this wasn’t their usual modus operandi.

But right now, he was feeling an anger that was swirling around inside. MJ was his friend. Romantic feelings aside, she was one of his classmates, his decathlon team captain, and one of the smartest individuals he knew. He never had to rescue one of his friends and family before. _First time for everything right?_

 _“Karen, what are they armed with?”_ he asked and his suit’s AI immediately chirped out in her usual pepper response.

“ _They are armed with knives and pistols. Two Caucasians, medium build and height, one African-American, medium build and above-average height, one Asian-American, medium build and average height,”_ Karen said in response. “ _Would you like me to activate Instant Kill?”_

 _“For the thousandth time, no!”_ he said in exasperation. “ _Just give me the standard webshooters.”_

 

Feeling the usual build up of anticipation, he slung down, time slowing for him. He aimed his right-hand webshooter right at the Asian gang member and fired, the web quickly wrapping itself around the unsuspecting man. Without a warning, he was flung into the air, where he was quickly webbed up on a ladder.

 

His next target was the goon threatening MJ, shooting his left webshooter and connecting with the knife he was currently threatening his friend with. He took the offending knife and threw it in a nearby dumpster.

“Hey, didn’t you know that robbing girls in an alleyway is _sooo_ 19th century,” he said as dry as he possibly could. “Let’s get you updated with the times, yes?”

Before the thugs could react, he launched himself at the one near MJ, uppercutting him savagely and sending him spiraling to the ground. Sensing a knife coming his way, he caught the man’s attack midway, throwing his opponent off.

“Oh no, a knife, my one true weakness!” he quipped before throwing the guy in the nearby dumpster to keep another knife company. “Alright, two down, two to go. Who wants to go next?”

One of the thugs pulled out a gun and aimed it straight at MJ. Acting quickly, he spun around and slung a web around her, her surprised look giving him butterflies in his stomach before he pulled it and she _spun_ like a ballerina into his arms. In a span of two seconds, he shot a web right to the top of the building and they went upwards, passing by the dazed thug he had taken out earlier.

She was clinging to him with a surprising strength, her arms around his waist. Landing on the roof, he deposited her, though she still clung to him.

“Be right back MJ,” he said before swinging down. As he was descending, he slapped himself mentally. _Calling her MJ? Really doing a good job of keeping your identity secret Parker._ Wait, was she following him? Did she suspect? What was she doing in an alleyway? All kinds of questions popped right in his mind before he was soon back on the ground.

“Let’s get back to business. I got another robbery to stop at five!”

As he webbed up the offending goons next to their buddy on the second floor of the building and telling a passerby to call the police (who quickly did) he was soon back on the roof with MJ. She was pacing back and forth, her scarf flowing in the New York wind. He then realized that his beanie was still on, the offending blue cloth stubbornly sticking to his head the whole time.

He knew that she was going to know. MJ was the smartest person in all of high school and was trying to get into Empire State University for journalism. No doubt she would. She had been the one who broke the story about Dr. Morita being the descendant of one of the Howling Commandos (he proudly remembered seeing Captain America in the picture with all of them) and had even started publishing a blog online about her investigative works ( _current project? Is Spider-Man a man or a kid? She could definitely answer that question now)._

She was soon facing him, tapping her foot impatiently. He quickly whipped his beanie off his head and hiding behind his back.

“Sooo...I gotta a robbery to stop at five, a train to catch at five-thirty, a sandwich to buy at six, and math homework at six-thirty, so I’ll be going now…”

He turned to swing away, but her commanding voice stopped her. He didn't know why he stopped. He could have just denied everything, but there was no point was there? She would know, he wouldn't have the ability to tell her on his own terms (not like these were his own terms) and she would probably think worse of him.

“We’ve gotta talk webhead.”

_Shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the support! This chapter was great to write and Peter Parker is quickly becoming one of my favorite comic book heroes to write. Captain America will always remain my favorite though.


	3. The Chess Pieces Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MJ and Peter talk about him being Spider-Man, while Steve Rogers is back in New York and looking for something...and maybe be getting a job.

**THE SPIDER-MAN WHO NEEDS TO DO BETTER AT KEEPING HIS IDENTITY A SECRET**

Peter knew he was in deep trouble. He felt fifteen all over again, like the time Aunt May had discovered he was the Spider-Man and grounded him  _ till this very day.  _ She hated that he was Spider-Man, but she knew that he was never going to stop doing it as long as he had these powers.

_ With great power comes great responsibility,  _ his Uncle Ben had told him the night he died. He chased away those thoughts as he faced MJ, who was, once again, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Peter…” she said, a bit of unsureness coming into her voice. “Time to fess up before I push you off this roof.”

He scanned the area and saw that they were on the tallest building within a thousand foot radius. He sighed a sigh of relief, knowing that he could take off his mask without anybody  _ else  _ seeing. He took it off, allowing his matted hair some breathing room. He shook his head and looked at her with uncertain eyes.

“Yeah. I’m the Spider-Man,” he confessed and MJ, though he knew that she knew, looked shocked, bewildered, flabbergasted, and smug. “Errr...how long have you suspected?”

“Since last year,” she revealed. “A lot of things pointed to it. Like when Flash threw the basketball at you and you caught it like it was nothing. Or that time at the football game and you flung it back at the referee and he almost doubled-over. Not to mention all the crazy shit that happened in sophomore year.  And that time you caught me in the cafeteria…”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, rubbing the back of his head with a mixture of embarrassment and pride. That had been around the time he had was developing feelings for MJ, feelings he wanted to be bottled, thrown into the ocean, and not seen until he was dead. He remembered how strong her grip was back then, just like it had been a couple of minutes ago.

“ _ Annnnd,  _ I know that you leave school really quick every day. Stark internship  _ my ass,”  _ she said boldly, obviously taking delight in his discomfort. “Now I know what you really do.”

To his credit, Peter recovered his words really quick. Yeah, she knew what he really did every single day after school.

“Make sure old women cross the road safely and stopping grand theft bikes is my job,” he smoothly replied. “Just a friendly...neighborhood Spider-Man?”

He cringed inwards at those words.

“Does anybody else know?” she asked and he blurted out his words before he could think.

“NO! Just Ned and my aunt!” he said before he could cover his mouth.  _ Fuck.  _ Now she knew that Ned knew, which meant that she could press Ned for information, and that meant that Ned would be whining that he was no longer the sole member of the Spider-Man support group besides his Aunt.  _ Well, if she wants to support Spider-Man. _

“How’d you get that suit? Seen videos on YouTube where it was a basically your old gym clothes plus goggles. How did it upgrade,” she gestured at him,”to all of this?”

He quickly began forming a plan in his head. He wouldn’t answer all the questions right now. They would sit down and have a civilized conversation like two...well one horny teenager and one really, really observant one. He then remembered that his aunt was going out to celebrate getting a raise for the first time in a decade since she started working with a couple of her work friends (because even aunts needed to get out of the house once in awhile) and he would be home alone tonight.

“Tell you what. I probably am going to stop a robbery at five, but I’ll tell you everything later. Meet me at my place at seven. I still have to finish the calculus homework.”

She stared at him with an annoyed look in her eyes.

“Is this some attempt to ask me out?” she asked and he started to sputter out words in response.

“WHAT! NO! Why would I ever ask you out?” and she narrowed her eyes at him, making him backtrack. “I mean, you are pretty and I think you’re awesome, and you scare me a little bit, but you’re really really smart, like the smartest person I know, and you got that whole badass mystery girl thing going on, but this isn’t me asking you out! Err...forget everything I said after I yelled out  _ noooo…” _

Peter decided to shut up before he embarrassed himself even further.  _ Great. Missed my train, May’s probably calling me, I still got that calculus homework to do, and gotta call Mr. Stark about  _ **_another_ ** _ person knowing my identity. _

She looked at him with a weird expression on her face. Like cross between surprise and a bit of happiness, mixed in with grumpiness.

“Fine. I’ll meet you at your place at seven.”

Happiness bubbled through his stomach.  _ Stupid butterflies.  _ He recalled that MJ knew where he lived, having stopped by to deliver some notes when he fell sick and Ned was in upstate New York visiting his grandparents.

“Awesome!” he said with gusto. “See you at seven.”

He put his mask back and stood on the edge of the roof. Just as he was about to web away, she  _ humphed. _

“Forgetting something tiger?”

He looked around to see if he had forgotten anything.  No, he still had his beanie on him, his mask was on, his webshooters were ready, and he was about to head back into the city.

She tapped her foot.

“How am I going to get off this roof?”

“Oh right, oh right!”

He approached her and held out his hand. She took it, gingerly and almost...unsure. She tucked her arms right around his waist and he noticed that he was a couple of inches taller than her. He was barely five-ten, having gone through a growth spurt when he was sixteen, but she was a taller than average girl. She pressed into him and he realized that her...well  _ womanly  _ attributes were... _ yeah, let’s not talk about that. _

“You’re lucky my backpack is zipped up,” she breathed and he laughed, despite himself.

“You ready?” he asked and she nodded. He aimed his web right at the opposite building and swung down, MJ in his arm. He could easily hold her. For Christ’s sake he could stop a bus with his bare hands, he could go toe to toe with the most dangerous Avengers in the world, and he had once stolen Captain America’s shield.

So why did he feel so heavy? He didn’t have time to dwell on it as he went down the street, only to have their presence replaced by a metal winged man. He didn’t sense it though, more focused on making sure MJ got down safe.

 

**THE FIRST AVENGER**

He kept his head low, keenly aware that he was in now in the most dangerous part of the world for him. It wasn’t Russia, nor Iraq, or Nigeria. It was where he had first been beaten up by somebody, kicked around in the dirt and left without a penny in his pockets in the late 1930s. The old movie theater was gone and torn down,  the entire damn thing now a high school.

_ How time flies,  _ he thought as he walked by an alley. He looked down it and thought he recognized the location.  _ Is that where I got beaten up by that one jerk and Bucky saved me?  _ He heard squirming and paused to observe a group of men in black and white struggling to get out of... _ webbing?  _ He recognized it, even though it had been two years since he had last seen it.

_It’s that kid from Queens._ He had heard reports of this Spider-Man, the same kid who had taken him on with bravado. The kid who could match him strength for strength. _Christ, he must have been in high school back then._ And then his mind started to wander. Would Stark sic the kid on him? _I don’t know,_ he answered himself and his mind went to Tony Stark.

A year. A year since he last talked to Stark, after they helped T’Challa take down his archenemy Erik Killmonger in Wakanda. Stark had done so in secret, intervening in clear violation of the Accords. The argument between them had lasted for almost an hour.

_ The safest hands are our own, not in the hands of anybody else, not even in the UN.  _ The Avengers needed to be independent and free to operate, to rescue people in need. Did innocent people die? Yes, but  _ more  _ innocents would die if they didn’t intervene.  _ Need to stop asking myself these questions. _

“What happened?” he asked a nearby pedestrian, who was taking pictures of the webbed up idiots. She was laughing to herself before turning to face him, looking up at him with blue eyes.

“Spider-Man took out these guys. He told me to call the police and to say that they were trying to rob someone,” she explained, taking a moment to snap another picture. “What kind of person robs someone in broad daylight?”

“One who doesn’t have any morals,” he answered. “Thank you miss, you have a great day today.”

She smiled at him and he walked away, making mental notes of these guys’s clothing. It was uniform, he knew. Though their clothes varied, from shorts to jeans, from designer shirts to a wife-beater, they all had a common theme.  _ Don’t know whose gang that is, will leave it up to Spider-Man.  _ He would love to take out these guys, but his mind was more focused on why he was in New York City in the first place.

A new threat that was selling Chitauri arms to all kinds of bad guys in the world. He vaguely recalled that one man had done that, but limited his sales to small and local gangs, in order to not arouse suspicion from the federal government or Tony Stark, until Spider-Man stopped him. But now those arms were appearing in all the hotspots.  _ Wakanda. Nigeria. Egypt. Iraq. Japan. France.  _ All locations that he had lead his ‘Secret Avengers’ to combat threats across the world.

Thanks to Natasha, they had access to money to allow them to operate. He didn’t ask where she got it from because he knew she would never tell him. He laughed, despite himself.

“Sam, you there?” he asked into his communications device. Brief static before he could hear Sam’s voice.

“Yeah cap, I’m up here. I got eyes on the high school,” his ‘wingman’  _ (get it, wingman?)  _ informed him. “Just a bunch of students. Oh, and if you look to your left, Spider-Man is currently swinging down with a girl in his arms. Think he saw me?”

_ Spider-Man?  _ He looked from his corner of his eye and saw that it  _ was  _ Spider-Man, landing right on the street and depositing a girl around seventeen or eighteen on the street before shooting a web at another building.  _ Who is she?  _ He didn’t know Spider-Man’s identity, which was...well it was weird for him.

Everyone in the Avengers had their identities known. Even Scott Lang, who was back in California dealing with his own problems, had his identity known to the larger public and the Avengers. But this...well kid, was a secret to him. It was...just different. When he was that age, (he was assuming Spider-Man was around the same age as the girl who was walking away briskly) he didn’t have to worry about keeping his identity a secret. He was just Steve Rogers. 

_ You always had your secrets Tony.  _ Ultron came to mind. Vision.  _Spider-Man._

“I think he was more focused on the girl than you Sam,” Steve Rogers replied. “Though you are a beautiful sight.”

“Cap, keep your gushing words for the gals,” Sam responded with humor in his voice. “I’m getting embarrassed! Though Bucky might want a word or two…”

Steve groaned at those words. You know, he was still kind of getting over not seeing Sharon in over six months. But Sam had discovered this thing known as ‘Tumblr’ where they ’shipped’ him and Bucky together like a couple. Now Cap was from the old days when being gay was literally  _ a criminal offense,  _ but he had no problem with gay people. He had learned to go with the times, but he was  _ extremely  _ uncomfortable with the idea that people actually created stories centered around him and Bucky being in a romantic relationship.

Sam had been laughing for days.

Whatever. He got his thoughts out of that and proceeded to head directly to the high school, following a radiation line they had tracked from D.C to New York.  _ Is there where this arms dealer is manufacturing his weapons out of?  _ He was now in front of the high school, looking up. He could see an Asian man in a suit standing in front, with the few kids still left. He looked closer and gasped.

_ Is that...Morita?  _ There was no way. Morita was long dead and yet, here he was, as if he had returned from heaven to fight by his side once more.  _ The Howling Commandos... _ it brought back memories. Men who had fought with him. No longer alive or if they were, old and in the throes of death.

“Excuse me sir, are you picking up a child?” the man asked him with a crispness. “Or are you here for the interview for the P.E teacher position? I’m sorry if I don’t know your name.”

Steve recovered quickly.  _ P.E teacher? Why would I do that?  _ Then it clicked to him. Maybe...just maybe he could track the source of the radiation, but he couldn’t go inside with allaying suspicion. But this man looked like Morita...and maybe he could trust him. Though he was no longer being actively tracked by the other Avengers and the government was dealing with other threats other than him (and the majority of the  American public wouldn’t like it if the guy putting out fires all over the world was arrested) he was still a wanted man.

“Sorry, I’m here about the P.E teacher position,” he said, lying through his teeth. He didn’t like lying, but over the last couple years, he had become somewhat of a master of it.  _ Natasha is a bad influence.  _ He just decided to tell the truth. _ “ _ But probably not for long.”

“And why is that?”

Steve took off his sunglasses and looked at Morita (he assumed he was Morita) straight in the eye.

“Have you ever heard me talk about patience?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first, a couple of things. The whole paragraph about Tumblr and Bucky/Steve, that was just a crack at the whole ship. This is canon-compliant, meaning that Steve Rogers is a heterosexual male. I've got nothing against the ship, but I've always wanted to see what Captain America would think about an entire subsection of a website dedicated to drawing pictures of him and his best friend. Again, nothing against the ship, but just wanted to make a joke about it. (Why did I dedicate this much to this).
> 
> Also, we'll be revisiting the (burgeoning) Sinister Six development in the next couple of chapters, while also building the relationship between MJ and Peter.


	4. I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ned Leeds get's closer with Betty Brant and Peter Parker is preparing for his meeting with MJ.

**THE GUY IN THE CHAIR**

Ned Leeds followed a simple philosophy of life. Do right by others and hopefully they’ll do right by you. It was a philosophy that propelled him to be the right-hand man of Queen’s own Spider-Man, made him a top gamer in  _ League of Legends,  _ and made him a target for Flash Thompson.

“Hey, it’s Penis Parker’s fat hobo friend!” Flash yelled at him as he started to walk towards the train to head to Peter’s place after computer science club. “What are you gonna do, make out with him later tonight?”

_ Gay jokes, really? This is 2018, not 1958.  _ He didn’t bother to answer as the girl Flash was talking to looked at him in disgust and walked away, prompting Flash to cry out,”Where are you going baby?”

“Away from you, you fucking asshole!” she screamed rather loudly which drew the attention of the ever watchful Principal Morita. The principal had been talking to some guy for quite some time and the two had parted ways a few minutes ago.

“Is there a problem here gentlemen?” the principal asked seriously. “You do know the school’s policy on harassment, correct Mr. Thompson?”

“Of course Principal Morita,” Flash gulped. “Just giving my old pal Leeds a hard time, ya know?”

Principal Morita seemed  _ extremely  _ unconvinced, but he couldn’t really prove anything, could he? Ned sighed, nodding along with the whole thing. He didn’t have time to get bogged down in a quagmire that was Flash Thompson. 

“I would press you further, but I see that your father is here,” Morita cooly replied, looking at an Audi sports car drive up. “Please inform your father that the school appreciates his donation last week.”

“Yes, of course!” Flash said quickly, nodding his head up and down. “Smell ya later Leeds.”

_ How the hell does Flash live like that? What does calling us names give him?  _ No, really, he didn’t understand Flash’s actions. He lived pretty comfortably, his dad was around and  _ spent time with him,  _ and he was pretty much guaranteed to get into Columbia or NYU or wherever he was trying to get into.

Maybe there was something buried down like Flash had a really huge crush on Peter and him.  _ You know Flash, there’s a study out there saying those who make homophobic statements and jokes tend to be gay themselves...  _ would have made a great comeback. Unfortunately, Flash was about six blocks away with his dad and Ned was walking down a street at five-thirty in the afternoon alone.

He felt his phone buzz and he dug it out of his pocket. He looked, seeing a text message from a number he didn’t recognize.

_ Hey, this is Betty from History, got your number from MJ. Was just wondering if you wanted to work on the Mask of Command project Mr. Reyes gave us. Was sick yesterday, so I don’t have a partner… _

His heart nearly leaped into his throat. Betty Brant, the girl he had been crushing on since freshman year, needed a partner and had his number.  _ Ok brain, how are we going to do this? Are we gonna Han Solo it, make her fall in love with us by being coy, mischievous, and all around good looking? Or Anakin Skywalker it? Talk about sand and how horrible it is, before staring at her like an old man on a bus? _

He decided to go with the Han Solo approach. Betty Brant was like Leia; smart, headstrong, and just plain beautiful. She deserved a Han to her Leia, not an Anakin.  _ So how are we going to reply?  _ **_Of course I’ll be your partner! I’m also friends with Spider-Man as his tech guy, I’ve met Tony Stark, and Vision once shook my hand. We can do anything!_ ** _ No, that’s coming on way too strong, plus, she won’t believe me about the Stark thing. _

**_Or how about, I lied about watching porn in the school library to cover for Spider-Man, I aced my advanced Spanish quiz yesterday, and I have a very strong B in History. You’re in good hands._ ** _ Nah, that makes me sound like a goddamn All-State commercial.  Also...porn and good hands...not the best way _

It clicked in his mind. It was so simple, yet elegant and would make Betty Brant fall in love with him. He could not believe how easy it that had been.  _ Maybe I should be the Spider-Man, with how awesome I am. _

_ Yeah. _

He typed it and sent it.  _ Mission accomplished Leeds.  _ He fist-bumped himself before he realized that he had promised Peter he would be partners with him.  _ Oh shit.  _ He was about to fire off another text, taking back his triumphant yes and replace it with a long-winded passage about how he had promised Peter to be his partner, they were best friends and he could never betray him, not even for the love of his life (who had no idea that she was the love of his life), before he also realized that Peter wasn’t in the same class as him and was doing the project with Michelle.  _ Oh, that’s right, we’re partners for the calculus project. _

He got a thumbs up icon from Betty, who then sent him another text.

_ So how are we going to do this? Want to meet up at my place tonight? Say seven? _

Leeds gulped. His day had pretty much turned a complete one-eighty. The girl of his dreams was inviting him to  **_her_ ** place and they were going to work on a school project together.  _ Don’t be creepy, don’t be creepy, don’t be creepy.  _ However, he had to be at Peter’s place for the calculus homework around six-thirty and they were going to work on it till about eight.

That’s when a message chimed in from Peter.

_ Hey, let’s meet up tomorrow instead. MJ’s coming over. She knows. _

Ned felt his heart sink.  _ No. No. This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.  _ He and May were the only members of the Spider-Man support club. He was the guy in the chair. Now he was imaging Michelle with a headset on, talking to Peter as he swung from building to building trying to stop a massive mobster in a three piece suit from destroying the city.  _ I’m the guy in the chair. Not Michelle!   _

Jealousy also began to surge through his veins. No longer was Peter’s secret exclusive to him. May didn’t really count because she would have found eventually, Mr. Stark was the guy who gave Peter his suit. He was the only guy Peter’s age who knew and they were best friends.

He turned his attention back to the waiting text message from Betty and answered it.

_ Sure. Send me your address.  _

And with that, he waited, because damn he was happy while at the same time heartbroken.  _ No matter what,  _ he vowed to himself,  _ I will always be the guy in the chair. I am darkness. I am the night...I am... _ **_NED._ **

 

**THE GRAND THEFT BICYCLE STOPPER**

He was walking on his ceiling. Upside down. In thought.

It always helped him think, just pacing back and forth. His aunt hated that it left footprints and it weakened the ceiling paint, which was one of the reasons why Peter started taking photos of ‘Spider-Man’ in action (in reality, he had modified the spider-drone to take photos of him in 720p that he could send to the  _ Daily Bugle).  _ He was getting better at patching the holes in his ceiling.

_ So MJ knows who I am. She knows that I’m Spider-Man. God, the girl I like knows who I am. Is this going to change anything?  _ Then he mentally slapped himself. Of course, it was going to change things. MJ was no longer just a friend, she was confidant who knew his secret. Who knew that he spent every afternoon (and most nights) stopping crime, fighting bad guys, and making bad jokes in the midst of combat.

“So, you know that whole Spider-Man deal? That was just like, the high school version of  _ Punk'd,”  _ he said to himself, trying to come with ways to see if he could convince MJ that he wasn’t Spider-Man despite telling her that he was Spider-Man. “I’m really a chameleon who uses tripwires, a jump pack, and holographic technology. I don’t have super strength and  _ I never ever  _ fought the Winter Soldier, who has a cool freaking metal arm.”

Now he was just lying to himself. He sighed as he recalled the moments of conflict during the Avengers Civil War. Stealing Captain America’s shield (which is still, hands down, the coolest fricking thing he has ever done), stopping the Winter Soldier’s metal arm like it was nothing -keep in mind, this dude took on  _ Iron Man, Black Panther, and Captain America _ \- and taking down the tiny guy who became big. Aunt May had almost bitten off Mr. Stark’s head when she had heard that he had taken on Captain America, let alone an infamous assassin on the FBI’s most wanted list.

He flipped back onto the ground just as his Aunt May walked in, wearing a knee-length black dress. It was a Friday, so she was going to be out most of the night.

“Alright Peter, I’m going now. I’ll be back around ten or so and I expect you to be  _ here.  _ Not galavanting around Queens, do you understand?” she said seriously. He still hadn’t told her that MJ was going to be here. “After I’m back, you can go on patrol till two because it’s not a school night, but not a minute later. You still have your History project to do.”

Peter groaned, remembering the History project. He had been paired up with MJ, strangely enough, so it was good that she was coming over. After they hashed out the whole  _ oh look, I know your secret  _ thing, they could get started on the  _ Mask of Command. _

“Don’t worry about it May, MJ is coming over,” he said, not thinking. “We’re going to work on it together.”

May stopped in her tracks. She backtracked to him and gave him a strange look, as he brought his hand to the back of his head.  _ Fuck. _

“I thought Ned was coming over to work on your calculus homework,” she said carefully. “But now  _ MJ  _ is coming over? I haven’t seen her in forever.”

“She’s only going to be here for a couple of hours and she won’t be here when you get back,” he quickly came up with, adding that  _ hopefully  _ was the word going in his mind. “But uh, I’ll be sure to invite her over for dinner one night.”

_ Great. Smooth Parker, why don’t you just admit you like her and ask May for a wedding ring. _

“Well...okay. But you are going to tell me everything when I get back, do you understand?” she said pointedly and Peter nodded. “Okay...go prepare for your girlfriend and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Peter said, though with some disappointment in his voice. He then breathed silently,”  _ Not yet.” _

“I heard that.”

If Aunt May was to have a superpower, it would definitely be super-hearing.  _ She’s like a superwoman with that hearing. _

As Aunt May left, he went back into panic mode. It was almost seven and here he was, back on his ceiling, walking back and forth. He then went into the living room, because he thought that it would make it easier for him to think. He shot a web towards the curtains and closed them and just began to pace.  _ What would Mr. Stark do? _

That was easy. He would show up, charm MJ, have her going out with her in the span of five minutes, and unceremoniously break up with her in five days.  _ Old Mr. Stark,  _ he corrected himself. Ms. Potts (she still insisted on being called that despite her legal name being Pepper Potts-Stark) was six months pregnant with twins and Mr. Stark had been going around crazy, paranoid that something was going to happen to her.

A knock at his door. Absent-minded, he opened it with his web shooter, as Aunt May hadn’t locked the door. Turning the knob, the door swung open and MJ was there, backpack, scarf, ripped pants and a black shirt that had the word  _ Humble _ written in bright white lettering. She looked surprised as nobody was there to greet her.  

_ Heh, Kendrick.  _ To be honest, Peter was more of a fan of Logic (his song, Black Spider-Man was  _ awesome)  _ but Kendrick was just a lyrical lyricist as well. Especially his song,  _ “ _ i”.  _ I went to war last night  _ _ with an automatic weapon, don't nobody call a medic. I'mma do it till I get it right _ _. _

“Ah, Peter?” she said in a conspiracy-like voice, breaking his thoughts. “You there?”

“Yeah. Just come on in,” he replied and as MJ slid in, he closed the door behind her with an audible  _ crack  _ making her jump slightly. He then jumped down from the ceiling.

“So...I’m here. What are we gonna do?”

“I’m going to tie you up, leave you here, and then go move to the other side of the country,” he sarcastically droned. “After that, I’m going to become a nun and pray for my forgiveness from the holy MJ.”

“Okay smartass. Let’s...I wanna hear. How Peter Parker, the biggest loser in Midtown, somehow became Spider-Man, the guardian of New York.”

“Biggest loser?”

“Toss-up between you and Leeds, naturally. Mr. “I watched porn at homecoming” versus Flakey McFlakey. The only person who comes close is Flash.”

He grimaced at the mention of Flash.

“Let’s not talk about Flash or Ned. I’ll tell you everything, from beginning to end.”

He was further surprised when MJ pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and wrote  _ “Spider-Man, the man” - _ she crossed out man and wrote boy, prompting a cry of protest from Peter-  _ “the myth and the legend. An exclusive interview.” _

Peter couldn’t help but feel hurt.

“Am I just a project to you?” he asked, which prompted MJ to shake her head and to nudge him with her hand.  _ No butterflies, no butterflies, no butterflies.  _ Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, causing him to grumble  _ ‘damn you body functions’  _ and almost blush a deep red.

“Peter, we’re friends. But I want people to know the real story behind Spider-Man, not what they learned from YouTube or Jameson’s rants about you in the  _ Daily Bugle,”  _ she said, almost...almost like she  _ cared.  _ Her tone was much softer than usual and he could see a hint of...concern in her eyes. “People need to know the truth.  _ The real truth.  _ The truth about a man who would sacrifice his life for his friends, who used his powers with responsibility instead of madness and greed like so many others. _ ” _

Peter didn’t go to church. His Aunt May stopped forcing him after Uncle Ben died (she still went at least once a month) but it didn’t stop him from remembering a line that his Aunt used to read to him from the Bible. The line he had read at Uncle Ben’s funeral when he had been asked to speak. That had made him break down and started crying in front of a hundred people.  _Miss you everyday Ben._

_ Greater love has no more than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just say, Ned Leeds is the embodiment of every single fanboy moment I had in Spider-Man Homecoming. Also, Flash Thompson reminds me of a dude I knew in high school was extremely, extremely homophobic and then in college, turned out to be gay. Also, there is a study out there that found people who tended to make homophobic comments and thoughts were more likely to be gay. Fucking hilarious if you ask me. 
> 
> Kendrick Lamar's song "i" really spoke to me and I imagine if Peter heard it, he would sympathize with it as well (specifically the lines regarding mental battles within oneself). Also, Logic's "Black Spider-Man" is a throwback to Donald Glover's campaign to be Spider-Man back in 2010 when Sony was rebooting the series with The Amazing Spider-Man. He also voiced Miles Morales in the Ultimate Spider-Man series for a few episodes. 
> 
> The reference to the bible is John 15:13, which is the New Testament. It's one of my favorite verses and I imagine it would have been spoken at Uncle Ben's funeral because of the circumstances of his death.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah...I've watched Spider-Man Homecoming and loved it. Also loved Zendaya's character and the dynamic between Peter Parker and Tony Stark. We'll be building it on that. Next chapter will come soon.


End file.
